Coat hook assembly

ABSTRACT

A coat hook or hat and coat hook assembly comprising a wall plate, which may be a length of an extruded section, which is secured to a wall or backboard, and one or more coat and/or hat and coat hooks, the rear part of each hook and the front part of the wall plate being so formed that the hook or hooks may be slid laterally into prosition on the wall plate and then locked into position. End caps may be fitted to the two ends of the assembly.

United States Patent 1 Binns et al.

1451 May 15,1973

1 1 COAT HOOK ASSEMBLY [76] Inventors: Julian R. H. Binns, c/o Harvest Works, Vale Road; Kenneth H.

Grange, 7A l-Iampstead High St.,

both of London, England [22] Filed: May 25, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 146,721

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data May 28, 1970 Great Britain ..25,723/70 [52] U.S. Cl ..248/225, 211/87 [51] Int. Cl. ..A47i 5/06, A47h 1/02 [58] Field of Search ..248/223, 224, 225, 248/217, 304, 307; 211/87, 32, 63

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 7/1959 Connors et al. ..248/225 12/1966 Kahn ..248/223 X 2,988,315 6/1961 Saxe ..211/87 X 3,637,084 1/1972 Uitz ..248/225 X 3,129,751 4/1964 Weber ..248/224 X FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,016,563 l/1966 Great Britain ..248/224 1,235,773 6/1971 Great Britain ..211/87 296,843 1/1918 Switzerland .......248/307 Primary ExaminerJ. Franklin Foss A ttorney- Berman, Davidson and Berman [57] ABSTRACT A coat hook or hat and coat hook assembly comprising a wall plate, which may be a length of an extruded section, which is secured to a wall or backboard, and one or more coat and/or hat and coat books, the rear part of each hook and the front part of the wall plate being so formed that the hook or books may he slid laterally into prosition on the wall plate and then locked into position. End caps may be fitted to the two ends of the assembly.

2 Claims, 21 Drawing Figures PATENTEU W1 5 SHEET 1. (IF 4 FLU/w lnvenlors. JUL/AN A. H. B/NNS,

145 f Mzmu,

KENNETH H. GRANGE Attorneys,

1 COAT HOOK ASSEMBLY This invention relates generally to coat hooks or hat and coat hooks as used in cloakrooms, offices and in domestic premises, and more particularly to a coat and- /or hat and coat hook assembly which is built up from standardized parts and may be varied in order to suit particular requirements or circumstances.

The conventional hat or hat and coat hooks, as used in cloakrooms, offices and in domestic premises, are made in a large variety of shapes and sizes but in general the conventional type of hook, which is used to 'hang up an overcoat or the like, or a double hook which will accommodate a coat and a hat, is normally made in a single unit which is screwed on to a wall or backboard, oris secured to-one face of a hat and coat stand, by two screws. This involves a considerable amount of fixing if a number of hooks is required and the screw heads are left showing. The principal object of the invention is to provide a coat and/or hat and coat hook assembly in which a back plate of special form is provided, which may be secured to a wall or a backboard, and individual hooks, which may be of different types, will all slide on to the wall plate and may then be secured in position in any desired space relationship. This reduces the amount of fixing required and provides a neat and attractive assembly. I

The invention consists of a coat, hook or hat and coat assembly comprising a wall plate adapted to be secured to a wall or backboard, and one or more coat hooks and/or hat and coat hooks which are carried by the wall plate, the rear part of each hook and the front part of the wall plate being so formedthat the or each hook may be slid laterally on to the wall plate and secured in a desired position along the length of the wall plate.

The wall plate may conveniently be in the form of an extruded section made of metal, such as aluminum alloy or a synthetic plastics material, and means may be provided by which play or looseness between the or each hook and the wall plate is'prevented when the hook has been located in its correct position.

Selected embodiments of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a single coat hook located on a wall plate and secured thereto in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is a front elevation of the assembly of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a composite side elevation showing different kinds of coat and/or hat and coat hook which may be used in an assembly according to the invention;

FIG. 4 is a rear elevation of the hook of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is an end elevation of a spacing piece for use with an assembly comprising the wall plate of FIGS. and 11 with the hooks according to FIGS. 3 and 4;

FIG. 6 is a front elevation of the spacing piece of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a sectionalside elevation taken on the line VII-VII of FIG. 8 of a moulded wall plate to accommodate a single hook of the kind shown in FIGS. 3 and FIG. 8 is a front elevation of the wall plate of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is an inverted plan view of the wall plate of FIGS. 7 and 8;

FIGS. 10 and 10a are respectively side elevations of a part of another assembly according to the invention and a projection of FIG. 10 at an angle to show detail at the rear of the assembly and to illustrate one method of preventing play between a coat hook or hat and coat hook and the wall plate after assembly;

FIG. 11 is a side elevation of an assembly similar to that of FIG. 10 but showing a different way of preventing play between a hook and the wall plate after assembly;

FIG. 12 is a front elevation of a spring used in the assembly or FIG. 10 to prevent play;

FIG. 13 is an inverted plan view of the spring of FIG. 12; v

FIG. 14 is a front elevation of the spring of FIGS. 12 and 13 drawn to a larger scale;

FIGS. 15 and 16 are respectively front and side elevations of an end plate for use in building an assembly according to the invention;

FIGS. 17, 18 and 19 are respectively rear, side and front elevations of an end cap for use with the end plate of FIGS. 15 and 16; and

FIG. 20 is a rear elevation of one end of an assembly according to the invention.

Referring initially to FIGS. 1 and 2, the assembly according to the invention comprises a wall plate, generally indicated by reference 11, which may be in the form of extruded section of metal such as an aluminum alloy or a synthetic plastics material, for example, ny- Ion. The wall plate 11 is drilled or punched at convenient points so that it may be secured to a wall or a back board by means of screws as indicated in dotted lines at 12. The wall plate is provided with two oblique rear surfaces, respectively 13 and 14, near its upper and lower extremities and with a flat face 15 at its front. A coat hook, generally indicated by reference 16 is formed with a conventional hook portion 17 and at its rear is formed with oblique surfaces which engage the dovetail connection provided by the oblique surfaces 13 and 14 of the wall plate. In order to secure the coat hook 16 it isonly necessary to slide it on to the wall plate, and it may then be fixed in position by means of a grub screw indicated in'dotted lines at 18, the grub screw being preferably provided with a conical pointed end so that it will bite" into the wall plate when it is tightened up. When the coat hook 16 has been placed in position and correctly located and locked on to the wall plate its appearance is very neat, with no screw heads visible, as is shown in FIG. 2. The hook may be formed with a notch 51 the purpose of which will be made clear later.

FIG. 3 is an end elevation in composite form to show three different types of hook which may be used in conjunction with the wall plate illustrated in FIG. 1. The upper portion 19 is formed internally with an oblique surface constituting one side of the dovetail and the lower portion 20 is formed internally with a second oblique surface so that a dovetail is formed which mates with the dovetail on the wall plate 11 of FIG. 1.

There is a hook portion 17 corresponding with the hook portion of FIG. 1 to provide a coat hook but the Figure also shows how a short hat hook 21 may be embodied or alternatively how a longer hat hook 22 may be included as an alternative.

FIG. 4 is a rear elevation showing the rear face 23 of the hook and the extremities 24 and 25 of the dovetail which are terminated by small surfaces which are square tothe face 23.

FIGS. 5 and 6 show a spacing piece which may be used in conjunction with the parts of the assembly described in FIGS. 1 to 4. The spacing piece may also be made from an extruded section. It comprises upper and lower portions 19 and 20 corresponding with the portions having like reference numbers of any of the hooks of FIG. 3, and a corresponding rear face 23, and it is cut off to a length such as will provide a desired spacing between the hooks when these are assembled with spacing pieces between them. Provision may be made for the grub screw 18 in any of the types of hook illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4 and if desired in the spacing piece of FIGS. 5 and 6.

From the foregoing description it will be evident that by providing the wall plate 11 and the spacing pieces in the form of extruded sections which may be cut off to desired lengths it is possible to provide coat hook or hat and coat hook assemblies having any desired number of hooks spaced from each other by desired dis tances.

FIGS. 7, 8 and 9 show a moulded wall plate which may be used for a single hook as an alternative to a length of the extruded section 11 indicated in FIG. 1, and such a moulding may conveniently be made of nylon. It comprises a rear face 27 which is placed against the wall and is provided with fixing holes 28 near its top and bottom, the holes being surrounded by bosses 29 to ensure adequate strength. The wall plate has upper and lower oblique faces respectively 32 and 31. The upper face 32 has a boss 33 moulded on it for additional location in the notch 51 of FIG. 1. The lower face 31 is cut away at 34 to allow entry of the grub screw 18 of FIG. 1. A strengthening rib 35 is included to ensure rigidity between the side walls 36 and 37.

FIGS. 10, a and 11 illustrate another type of wall plate and different methods of preventing play between hooks and the wall plate after assembly. The wall plate shown in these figures is also in the form of an extruded section which may be in extruded metal, such as an aluminum alloy, or in a synthetic plastics material having a high strength. It comprises rear webs, respectively 38 and 39, having flat faces which will bed against the wall or back board and a forwardly projecting web 40 having a front face which will support the rear face 23 of the hooks of FIG. 3. Two oblique portions, respectively 41 and 42, form the dovetail connection. A hook generally indicated at 43, may be of any of the types illustrated in FIG. 3. Fixing holes (not shown) may be drilled or punched through the wall plate in the portions of the web 38 and 39.

A key-hole shaped slot 73-74 is formed at the rear of the web 40. The hole 74 is of the correct size to accept a self-tapping screw during assembly, as will be described later in connection with FIG. 20. The slot 73 might be omitted in some cases but in other cases it is desirable as it assists in extrusion of the section.

In order to locate the hooks in position on the wall plate and prevent play after assembly a spring, generally indicated by reference 44, is placed over the lower web 42, the spring being more particularly described hereinafter with reference to FIGS. 12 to 14.

FIG. 10 includes a projection (FIG. 10a) at an angle to show how the spring 44 is crimped along one edge, the projection also showing a spacing piece of the kind illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6 on each side of the hook 43.

In the assembly of FIG. 11 the wall plate is the same as that shown in FIG. 10 and comprises the webs 38, 39, 40, 41 and 42 and the hook 43 may be any of the types usable with the assembly of FIG. 10. The spring 44 is, however, omitted and instead the webs 41 and 42 are coated with flock, indicated at 45 and 46, which may conveniently be applied by means of a flock spraying process or pre-flocked paper strips which are. preferably self-adhesive.

FIGS. 12, 13 and 14 show one form of spring which may be used in conjunction with the assembly of FIG. 10 to prevent play between hooks and the wall plate. It comprises a sheet of plastics or of spring steel which is formed to provide a flat portion 47 which leads into a radius 48, which radius in turn leads into a portion 49. The portion 49 is crimped by means of an appropriate tool, as indicated at 50. This spring is .placed over the web 42 of FIG. 10 and the crimped form 50, being compressed between the oblique faces of the hooks or spacers and the wall plate.

FIGS. 15 and 16 illustrate an end plate, generally indicated by reference 52, which may be for use in building a coat hook or hat and coat hook assembly according to the invention. It may conveniently be a pressing made from mild steel sheet or plate and may be electroplated or galvanized to protect it from rusting. It is of elongate rectangular shape and has a raised center portion 53 which is centrally disposed with respect to the rectangle defining the periphery. At the center of the end plate is a hole 54 to accept a screw during assembly, and equally spaced from the hole 54 are two rectangular slots 55 which are also used during assembly. The hole 54 and slots 55 and their purpose will be referred to in more detail later.

FIGS. 17, 18 and 19 illustrate an end cap, generally indicated by reference 56, which is also used at the two ends of certain types of assembly according to the invention. It is conveniently of elongate rectangular shape and is moulded from a synthetic plastics material, such as nylon, of a grade which has a degree of resilience, so that certain parts may temporarily be bent and will then return to their original form. The end cap has a flat back andthe central part of the front is also flat but has raised edges 58 and 59 at its ends and a similarly raised edge 60 at one long side. The other long side preferably has a raised edge 61 which, however, is raised to a lesser height than the edges 58, 59 and 60. Two pairs of similar hooks are formed so that they project from the front of the end cap. The first pair consists of hooks 62 and 63 which are oppositely directed. The second pair consists of identical hooks 64 and 65 which are also oppositely directed. The two pairs of hooks are symmetrically arranged with respect to the rectangular outline of the end plate and when used during the building of an assembly according to the invention the hooks are snapped through the rectangular slots 55 in the end plate 52, as will be more particularly described in connection with FIG. 20. Four rectangular slots 66 extend through the end cap from back to front. These are not required for any purpose connected with the invention but may be necessary in moulding the end cap. They are formed by rectangular pins projecting from themoulding tool which form the inner parts of the books 62, 63, 64 and 65.

FIG. 20 illustrates one end of one form of a coat hook or hat and coat hook assembly according to the invention, built up from components which have previously been described. To construct the assembly a piece of wall plate 67 is provided, in the form of a piece ,of the extruded metal section shown in FIG. 10 or FIG. 11. This is drilled or punched so that it can be screwed to a wall or back board by screws passing through holes 68 and other screws, not shown. The lower web of the wall plate has a spring 71 of the kind shown in FIGS. 12 to 14 placed upon it. A desired number of coat hooks and/or hat and coat hooks 69, of the kinds illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4, and spacing pieces 70 of the kind illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6, are slid on to the wall plate in alternating order, with hooks at both ends. As shown in FIG. 20, the length of the wall plate 67 is made a little less than the combined length of the hooks and spacing pieces. An end plate 52 (FIGS. 15 and 16) is placed at each end of the assembly and secured by a self-tapping screw 72 which is screwed into the slotted hole 73 in the wall plate. When the self-tapping screws 72 are tightened all lateral or end play between the hooks and spacing pieces is taken up and since the spring 71 or flocking 45 and 46 of FIG. 11 takes up any vertical play the hooks and spacing pieces are firmly held. An end cap 56 (FIGS. 17 to 19) is then snapped in position at each end of the assembly. The end cap is simply placed against the end plate with the hooks 62-65 opposite the rectangular slots 55 in the end plate and pressed home when the hooks collapse inwardly to allow their projecting parts to pass through the slots and then spring outwardly to hold the end cap in posi-, tion. In this way a very neat assembly is provided, which has an elegant appearance, especially as no screw heads are left showing.

It will be evident that numerous modifications may be made in carrying out the invention as compared with the embodiments described. For example, a wide range of shapes, sizes and styles of coat hooks or hat and coat hooks may be devised, and numerous forms of wall plate are possible, provided only that the front part of the wall plate and the rear part of each hook are so formed that they have inter-engaging cross-sections so that the hooks will slide laterally on to the wall plates. Variations are also possible in the end plates and end caps.

We claim:

1. A hook assembly for a hat and/or coat composed of a wall plate adapted to be secured to a wall or backboard, at least one hook for the hat and/or coat which is carried on the wall plate, the rear part of the hook and the front part of the wall plate being so formed that the hook may be slid laterally on to the wall plate to a desired position, and means to prevent play or looseness between the hook and the wall plate when the hook has been located in its desired position, the said means comprising a crimped spring which is placed between the hook and the wall plate during assembly.

2. A hook assembly for a hat and/or coat composed of a wall plate adapted to be secured to a wall or backboard, at least one hook for the hat and/or coat which is carried on the wall plate, the rear part of the hook and the front partof the wall plate being so formed that the hook may be slid laterally on to the wall plate to a desired position, and means to prevent play or looseness between the hook and the wall plate when the hook has been located in its desired position, the said means comprising flocking applied to at least one part of the wall plate which is engaged by the hook. 

1. A hook assembly for a hat and/or coat composed of a wall plate adapted to be secured to a wall or backboard, at least one hook for the hat and/or coat which is carried on the wall plate, the rear part of the hook and the front part of the wall plate being so formed that the hook may be slid laterally on to the wall plate to a desired position, and means to prevent play or looseness between the hook and the wall plate when the hook has been located in its desired position, the said means comprising a crimped spring which is placed between the hook and the wall plate during assembly.
 2. A hook assembly for a hat and/or coat composed of a wall plate adapted to be secured to a wall or backboard, at least one hook for the hat and/or coat which is carried on the wall plate, the rear part of the hook and the front part of the wall plate being so formed that the hook may be slid laterally on to the wall plate to a desired position, and means to prevent play or looseness between the hook and the wall plate when the hook has been located in its desired position, the said means comprising flocking applied to at least one part of the wall plate which is engaged by the hook. 